Category Archives: Oogy Wawa Productions

Well it’s been over 5 months since the Victor Harbor Tasar national have concluded. I have now removed the tab from the top of the page but have not deleted any of the info. If you would like to have a look though those fun times you can still find the link under the services tab.

Quick little video from the NSW States

Well that was a huge trip and one we are very glad we made. The NSW Tasar States was the last major Tasar event in Australia before the next worlds which will be held in Cascade Locks in August. For us it was the last good chance to check our speed and get some large fleet racing in.

Day 1

3500km round trip made worth it by this trophy.

Saw some solid breeze but was still unsettled. We started race 1 down at the pin end completely by ourselves with the plan of going left. After the first 200m I was starting to get worried as we seemed to be the only ones banking on the left and the guys out right were starting to look good. We decided to back our plan as we thought the left was good in our practice sail before the race. The left shift came though just before we got to the lay and we smoked back to the top mark to round comfortably in the lead. We were a little bit slow on the reaches but put together the next upwind very well to take the win by over a minute. Race 2 saw the breeze back off slightly and we tried to sail a slightly more conservative race by not banging a corner. I absolutely screwed the start by underlaying the pin and having to take 30 odd sterns out to the right. We still had plenty of pace upwind though and finished up with a 6th. Race 3 saw us round the top mark comfortably in the lead once again but the fleet carried a line of breeze down to us on the reach and rounded the bottom mark in the top pack in 5th. Once again we put the upwind together and finished in 2nd. At the end of racing for the day we were leading the regatta by one point to the Vics Heather and Chris.

Day 2

Saw 3 more races in softer breeze with our results an 11, 21 and 8th, The second race of the day was a killer were we had an average start and worked our guts out from 30th back to 10th only to get shut out of gaining the starboard advantage at the last bottom mark and losing 10 odd places. We were still very happy with how we sailed in these conditions though. With a drop coming into play we dropped back to 5th overall.

Day 3

With a pretty average forecast for the day and needing the full 9 races to get 2 drops the race committee got us out on the water on time. The first race of the day saw us just make the start coming back from our practice upwind and just finding a gap in the middle of the line. The breeze clocked about 20 degrees to the left on the gun and we sailed the first upwind in patchy 0 to 10 knots with it moving up to 40 degrees. Very tough race were we rounded the top mark in about 40th but sailed a great downwind and upwind to pull back to 17th. Race 2 was an absolute shocker with the race starting in an unsettled SW direction of around 4 knots. We wanted the boat and to go right and this seemed to be working nicely for the first 70% of the leg until the breeze shifted to the SE at 20 knots. With it turning into a 25 minute race we never had a chance to get back though the fleet and ended up with a results in the 30′s. With the breeze settling into the SE we saw what in my opinion the best breeze of the regatta. We started towards the pin with the aim of protecting the left but also stepping back to the right whenever the compass got below 120 degrees. We rounded the top in 3rd and lost 2 on the first reach but the second reach was a cracker with Nic and I as far back in the boat as possible. From here we sailed a conservative race to finish in 5th with an overall result of 8th.

Winners are Grinners

It was a great regatta and exactly the conditions we were after in the lead up to the Cascade Locks Worlds. A big thanks to the NSW committee for putting on a great event.

Finally well done to Shane and Gretel taking out the event. Sailed well guys.

Final Results

Click here or on the photo to see some presentation photos

Well that was a huge and great weekend. A fun and well run regatta at Royal Geelong Yacht Club and great to catch up with our Vic mates. An extremely hot entry list with the current world champions Paul and Bronwyn and immediate past national champions Craig and Gill attending and hotter weather it looked like there would be some interesting racing.

The weekend started with us driving out on Friday afternoon and arriving quite late to the Creaky’s in Ocean Grove. The weather forecast for the weekend was not looking in our favor with the temp sitting around 35 degrees and not much wind predicted for the whole weekend. Saturday saw us sailing in 3 to 15 knots from the north(ish) with huge shifts of up to 60 degrees. We came away with a 10, 14 and 15 but more importantly we got to evaluate our speed. What was obvious is that we need more work on our light wind reaching.

Sunday saw 2 races in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. The morning races were long and hot with minimal wind. We had a shocking time out there and it definitely was not fun. In the arvo we were lucky enough to get the seabreeze fill in at 10 to 15 knots which was what we’d been waiting for. The race committee set a very short first work that saw a lot of carnage at the top mark with the fleet working the left side of the course. We decided to play it safe so even though we started at the pin we tacked out to the right early. We took a few sterns to get there but it paid off coming back with Starboard advantage at the mark. The first half of the second upwind I got the trim slightly wrong and while it did not cost us anything it was not fast. Once I realised we changed gears and mowed down 3 more boats by the top mark. We came out of the race with a 7th but more importantly we were very happy with our upwind speed. Second race of Sunday arvo was pretty much a copy of the first but even shorter making it very hard to get around people once they were in front. We finished up with a 6th in this race and felt like we had the boat moving pretty well.

With Mondays forecast looking very average and only one race planned we pulled the pin and packed up early to head home. It was a great weekend and well worth the trip, especially to get an idea of where we stand against the Vics at the moment for the upcoming worlds. The regatta concluded with a 3 way tie for first, well done to Heather and Chris for taking out the event followed by Paul and Bronwyn and then Pete and Charlotte. A big thanks to Tasar Victoria for putting on a great event with the help of Royal Geelong Yacht Club. I’ve added a few photos from our trip, just click on any of them and it will take you to the album.

Results

See you all at the NSW States.